"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."<br> --Samuel Adams

by havoc [ posted: 4.Mar.2013 09:13 PM ] [dura-link][Print]
I have moved the blog to galacticslacker.com/blog. I am giving WordPress a spin. The RSS feed has already been moved over. For the 2 people subscribed to the RSS feed, you are already picking up the new blog. For now, I plan to leave this content in-place.

I watched it because I think it is good to challenge what I believe and to listen to good arguments against what I believe. I figure that if WK posted it, it was probably really good.

I figured wrong.

In an hour, not one time does Dr. Walls appeal to scripture. Also, Dr. Walls apparently has no category for the difference between the dead-in-sin and the made-alive-by-the-Spirit. He seems assume that the human cognitive machinery is as unaffected by sin as it is unaffected renewal by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. (He does not indicate that the man changes at all!)

What surprised me was the honesty with which he presented what "Calvinists" believe, even though he is missing key theological categories to understand them.

by havoc [ posted: 28.Nov.2012 08:02 AM ] [dura-link][Print]
Today's links are a mixed bag of Christianity, Christian apologetics, economics and politics. Interestingly enough, all of those topics are all related. My original intent was to put them in categories, but this week's links are such a mixed bag that there would be only one or two links per heading, so you get the bag.

This article is worth the read if you paid even passing attention to last year's overthrow of the corrupt and despotic Egyptian government and ensuing revolution.

CRITICS have labeled it a Reichstag fire moment, a reference to when Hitler consolidated power in Germany. Admirers describe it as a brave and necessary, albeit temporary, move to prevent a drift towards chaos. In either case Muhammad Morsi, Egypt's recently elected president, has pitched his country into a crisis as dire as any since the uprising in January 2011 that ended six decades of military-backed dictatorship. Seeking to break a deadlock with secular opponents, he issued a shock decree on November 22nd granting himself sweeping new powers. The move has left Egypt starkly and dangerously polarised. Whether Mr Morsi succeeds, and whether this turns out well or disastrously for Egypt, remains to be seen.

Mr Morsi has had a rough ride since his wafer-thin election victory last June. The president's Freedom and Justice Party, a snazzier-clothed clone of the dowdy Muslim Brotherhood to which he owes his real allegiance, had pumped his candidacy with promises of sweeping improvements to government services during his first hundred days. This was to be followed by the launch of a so-called Renaissance Project, touted as a grand design formulated by Brotherhood experts to yank Egypt into prosperity.

I seem to remember some people rejecting the notion that the Muslim Brotherhood was a factor in Egyptian politics in the months of unrest and revolution in Egypt. Any concerned about the Muslim Brotherhood was denounced as being a gullible pigeon of western imperialism.

It was the same voices who have told us for years that Islam is a religion of peace and that Sharia Law is not a threat to freedom.

More disturbing still, for many Egyptians, were the other parts of Mr Morsi's decree. These have stripped courts of any right to dissolve or challenge the current constituent assembly, and assert the immunity of all presidential decrees from challenge by any other authority, until such time as a new constitution is passed. Perhaps most troubling of all was this final, catch-all clause: "The President may take the necessary actions and measures to protect the country and the goals of the revolution."

Brotherhood supporters quickly asserted that these vastly expanded presidential powers would only be temporary. Mr Morsi himself made a conciliatory speech, declaring himself proud to govern a country with a strong and vocal opposition. His moves were necessary, he said, to uphold the goals of the 2011 revolution, complete its democratic transition, and to get its economy back on track. Vowing to cleanse state institutions of "worms" that have eaten away at them, Mr Morsi swore that he would never impinge on the freedoms he had spent his own life fighting for.

I think that the most worrying part of the article is the last paragraph....

Ominously, the Muslim Brotherhood and its opponents have each called for massive demonstrations in Egypt's capital on November 27th. Violent clashes between police and anti-government protesters, and between Brotherhood supporters and their enemies, have already broken out across the country. For millions of Egyptians who cheered the overthrow of Mr Mubarak, this seems a particularly perverse outcome. The former regime's corrupt and cruel deep state remains broadly despised. Sympathy for Mr Morsi's desire to subdue it is widespread. But Egypt's president seems to have foolishly overstepped his authority and greatly overestimated his appeal.

The Muslim Brotherhood has repeatedly shown the world that they do not shy away from shedding blood, and Tuesday is looking bloody from here.

I had back-burnered my blogging for the last couple of years for a couple of reasons: 1) Almost nobody reads my blog. That is not to say that the few that read it are of little consequence. On the contrary the few that read it mean a great deal to me. It's just that the few that read it are very, very few. 2) I was spending my energies attempting to engage people on Facebook.

As it turns out, I was very unsuccessful at engaging, but very successful at enraging people. After a severe beat-down by two Christians (one brother, one sister) in an attempt to have a conversation, I finally realized that 99% of the people on Facebook were just ignoring me and the other 1% was just angry at me. File Facebook under "FAIL" for me (a very large file, indeed).

So, I am back to blogging. I will still not be engaging the masses, but at least the people who are upset with me will have come here intentionally.

Multiculturalism was a fun swim, until we realized there was no bottom

Faith McGregor is the lesbian who doesn’t like the girly cuts that they do at a salon. She wants the boy’s hairdo.

Omar Mahrouk is the owner of the Terminal Barber Shop in Toronto. He follows Shariah law, so he thinks women have cooties. As Mahrouk and the other barbers there say, they don’t believe in touching women other than their own wives.

The problem with multiculturalism is that it has no foundation, just refutation. "It's just elephants all the way down."

The pool is fun to swim and splash around in, until you realize there is no bottom... ever!

by havoc [ posted: 18.Nov.2012 01:02 PM ] [dura-link][Print]
Sometimes I hope that I can have a positive influence on others -- specifically in attempting to help people think carefully. As it turns out, I am perceived as just being contentious.

I do not think that I am right about all things, but I do see that I have thought wrongly in the past, and I can see that the path of thought (or lack of thought) that people have taken to arrive at their conclusion is fallacious. When I attempt to point out the error that I see, I am not saying that I am right or that I never err.

As it turns out, to disagree is okay. To have reasons for disagreeing is to be an ass.

Apparently, I can only have "influence" with those whom I already agree.

....

Makes me wonder how those people that I disagreed with, but lead me to change my mind on everything ever influenced me.

CNN Breaking News via harrisdev.com 6:02 PM
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the buck stops with her when it comes to who is to blame for security ahead of a deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

"I take responsibility" for what happened on September 11, Clinton said in an interview with CNN's Elise Labott soon after arriving in Lima, Peru, for a visit.

The attack killed Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other Americans at the consulate.

The interview was one of a series given to U.S. television networks Monday night, the first such interviews she has given about the Benghazi attack.

Clinton insisted President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are not involved in security decisions.

So, President Obama is not directly responsible for the Benghazi Incident, but he did appoint an incompetent Secretary of State whom he does not oversee.

Nice.

Mission People

by havoc [ posted: 17.Jul.2012 07:17 PM ] [dura-link][Print]
So, at church Sunday, this young lady who was essentially on her way to the mission field in Africa. Just graduated from college with a "heart for women's ministries," .... and arrogant.

The arrogance and spiritual superiority just dripped off of her. As it ran down, it mingled with her disdain for rest of us who aren't going into missions.

I've seen it before -- often. The little "mission people" with their head in the clouds, disdainful of the rest of us, "setting here comfortable and lazy."

It never occurs to the "mission people" that the rest of us are doing work that is ordained by God for us to do. Some of us are simply ordained into our vocations. Our work is worshipful and God honors us in doing well what God has called us to do. Some go beyond our vocations and work withing the Church to strengthen and enrich it. My calling is very clearly not to the mission field, but to discipleship.

It's less glamorous, less interesting, less dramatic, but not less needed, less faithful, less honored or less worthy.

Twiki is down

by havoc [ posted: 9.May.2012 10:37 AM ] [dura-link][Print]
I had to take down the GalacticSlacker twiki. It was causing my server to whack out. I will try to diagnose it and get it back online later. I have more pressing issues now. If you actually used it for information, drop me a line to let me know.

by havoc [ posted: 27.Mar.2012 03:18 PM ] [dura-link][Print]
I had a bunch of audio files I had ripped from several sets of DVDs (continuing education stuff) that I made available for streaming over our home network. I wanted to adjust the sound levels on the files because the DVDs had fairly low sound levels, making listening on various phones and tablets difficult (since these devices often do not have internal amplifiers).

This is being done on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, so I had to install the MP3 tools for SOX:sudo apt-get install libsox-fmt-mp3

"Since we cannot be universal and know all that is to be known of everything, we ought to know a little about everything. For it is far better to know something about everything than to know all about one thing. This universality is the best. If we can have both, still better; but if we must choose, we ought to choose the former."
- Pensees, Pascal

Because God rules the world by his providence, history really is His story. To misconstrue the historical record, therefore, is to falsify the works of God. Further, love for our fellow men, especially for our brothers and sisters in the faith, demands that we not bear false witness against them-regardless of when they lived. Consciously misrepresenting history is a violation of this law of love and should be regarded as a sin to be avoided.
- Tom Ascol, Founders Journal, Baptist History Out of Focus

I love my job

by havoc [ posted: 29.Oct.2011 04:18 PM ] [dura-link][Print]
I am really enjoying the new job. Yesterday, everything went wrong. It was awesome!

New job

by havoc [ posted: 23.Oct.2011 03:04 AM ] [dura-link][Print]
I started a new job on 8.Aug.2011. I'm loving it. It's challenging and demanding. It's the job I've been wanting for 20 years. I don't have time for a lot of the optional stuff I've had time for for the last 14 years, but it's working out okay.

Justice

by havoc [ posted: 7.Jul.2011 02:01 PM ] [dura-link][Print]
Man is not just, but it's good that God is. I'm so glad, though, that God is not fair!

Lawmakers must raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by Aug. 2. Otherwise, the Treasury will run out of money to pay the nation's bills in full and on time.

Republicans have demanded that any deal to raise the debt ceiling include deep spending cuts, but they have been reluctant to consider measures favored by Democrats that would increase revenue.

Well, hold on a sec, "Lawmakers must raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by Aug. 2. Otherwise, the Treasury will run out of money to pay the nation's bills in full and on time." Otherwise, the Treasury will run out of money....

It's a Debt Ceiling... the Treasury is already out of money!

Rain! 27.Jun.2011

by havoc [ posted: 28.Jun.2011 07:56 PM ] [dura-link][Print]
After ten months with no wet, a little shower is a big deal. We're thankful for what we get.

The U.S. and International Energy Agency will release 60 million barrels of oil from reserves to stablize world energy markets.

The U.S. will release 30 million barrels from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the rest will come from the International Energy Agency, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said today. The oil will be released in the next 30 days to offset the disruption in the oil supply caused by unrest in the Middle East.

I'm pretty sure this is a bad idea. It was a bad idea when pressure was put on Bush, and it's a bad idea now. Not only is it a poor "Band-Aid" solution, it's a bad and short-sighted political maneuver. 30 million barrels of oil is not enough to make an impact on the market, and it has to be replaced in the SPR at market cost, meaning that the tax payers have to pay for that oil twice. This kind of intervention in the market is bad policy, bad economics and bad politics.

by havoc [ posted: 24.Jun.2011 01:43 PM ] [dura-link][Print]
Oh, I misunderstood that the SPR was for -- it was established as a state interventionist tool. So, that means, it is being used for the very purpose it was created.

It should be either dissolved, or rolled over into a strictly military reserve.

State (economic) interventionism is always (or at least has historically always proven to be) a bad idea.

Keynesian economics is awful.

Important discussions

by havoc [ posted: 23.Jun.2011 05:09 AM ] [dura-link][Print]
I finally had two important discussions with two men (actually at the same setting) that I have been waiting for years for the time and the place to be right:

1) Your doctrine is all kinds of messed up, and I don't agree with you on nearly as many things as you think I do (if any).

2) The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is a key, Christian doctrine, and it is clearly supported by the text of the Bible (even though the word "Trinity" never appears in the text of the Bible).

Note: The word "Bible" never appears in the Bible, either.

A favorite image

by havoc [ posted: 21.Jun.2011 05:21 AM ] [dura-link][Print]
I haven't posted this one in a long time, but this image seems to provoke a strong response in some people. This is one of the early images from my Canon EOS 5D Mark II from May of 2009.

Two senior federal law enforcement sources say acting ATF director Kenneth Melson is expected to resign under pressure, perhaps in the next day or two, amid the ongoing controversy over the "Fast and Furious" operation in which straw buyers were allowed to illegally purchase large numbers of weapons, some of which ended up in the hands of cartels in Mexico.

by havoc [ posted: 15.May.2011 04:17 AM ] [dura-link][Print]
I just happened to stumble across this image I shot back in December 2009.

Multiverse -- a layman's explanation

by havoc [ posted: 9.May.2011 03:36 PM ] [dura-link][Print]
I like this video. It points out (humorously) why the multiverse solution is unworkable. The problem with explaining things with the multiverse is that it answers every possible question, which means that in the end it can't answer any questions.